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Gray whale named 'Little Patch' back again in Puget Sound

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A male gray whale identified as "Little Patch," or No. 53, near Everett, Wash., this month. The Pacific Whale Watch Association says the whale is one of a group of about a dozen primarily male gray whales that feast on ghost shrimp in north Puget Sound waters for about three months during spring on their way to Alaska.
(AP Photo/Island Adventures Whale Watching, Michael Colahan)

SEATTLE — A male gray whale that feasts on shrimp in the Puget Sound every year was spotted over the weekend, marking the start of an annual stay in Washington state inland waters by a small but peculiar group of these big marine mammals, whale watchers reported Tuesday.

The intrepid bull — nicknamed "Little Patch" and identified with the number 53 by researchers — is the first of a small group of about a dozen, primarily male, gray whales that feed on ghost shrimp in northern Puget Sound for about three months during spring. He's been the first of the group to show up for two years in a row now, the Pacific Whale Watch Association said.

By late May and early June, the whales leave the Puget Sound to continue their migration to the Bering and Chukchi seas off Alaska.

These grays are a peculiar group that breaks off the main northbound Pacific Coast migration, seemingly because they have discovered plentiful feeding in Puget Sound waters, said Cascadia Research Collective biologist John Calambokidis.

Calambokidis said researchers first began identifying the whales in the group from the natural markings in 1990 and 1991.

"Although they were clearly using this area before that," he said. "Most of the animals identified in our first two years are still returning today ... 25 years later."

The whales can be seen in Possession Sound, which is located between Everett and Whidbey Island. It's the 23rd year in a row that Little Patch has been seen here. Because of their long visits, the whales have been nicknamed "resident" gray whales, the Pacific Whale Watch Association said.

About 22,000 gray whales make an annual migration from California to Alaska, and many of them visit Washington state waters to feed. There's a subgroup within the migration, about 200 of them, which make up a Pacific Coast feeding group. They don't go to Alaska and rather stay in the Pacific Northwest, Calambokidis said.

Stragglers of the migration make a grimmer visit to Washington waters. These whales, often sick and debilitated, are often spotted farther south in the Puget Sound, reaching Tacoma and Seattle. Those whales come here to die.

The dozen that feed off Everett, though, eventually go back up to Alaska.

"So we begin with 22,000 or so whales, 11 of them pit stop every year here off Everett, and then we have number 53 checking in first again. It's almost like looking at a tide chart. It's March, so here come the grays. And oh look, there's 53!" said Michael Harris, executive director of the Pacific Whale Watch Association, in a statement.

Gray whales are baleen whales that can reach lengths of 50 feet and weigh about 40 tons. They can live into their 70s. Their migration from Baja California to Alaska is one of the longest migrations by any mammal, spanning between 5,000 and 6,800 miles.

The Everett dozen stop to feed here to fatten up on shrimp before making the last stretch to Alaska. They are also a key attraction for whale watching tours in the area.